A big hand for Joel Gibbard!

Joel is the founder of the Open Hand Project, which makes robotic prosthetic hands more accessible to amputees, and its parent company Open Bionics, which 3D prints affordable superhero robotic hands.

He aims to start selling the prosthetics next year, intending to charge £2,000 for the device, including the cost of the fitting. This is roughly the same cost as the arms fitted with hooks currently on the market, whereas similar arms with controllable fingers are more like £20,000 to £60,000.

Furthermore, existing products take weeks or months to obtain. Joel can 3D-scan an amputee using a tablet equipped with a special sensor, 3D-print the parts in about 40 hours, and finally fit them together in a further two hours, giving them a custom-fitted socket and hand in less than two days.

And in October 2014, he was named British Young Design Engineer of the Year (pdf) at the British Engineering Excellence Awards. The Judges said: “A highly motivated, dedicated young engineer with multidisciplinary skills and an impressive record of achievement already.”